BEST OF PUERTO MADRYN
BOOK THIS PACKAGE |
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2 nights accommodation with daily breakfast ·
Reception at Trelew Airport followed by Punta Tombo
tour ending in Puerto Madryn ·
Full day Peninsula Valdés tour ·
Transfer hotel/Trelew Airport |
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DAY 01: |
PUERTO MADRYN Reception at Trelew Aiport and tour to Punta
Tombo ending in Puerto Madryn. Punta Tombo, located on the Atlantic Ocean coast, 150 km
from Puerto Madryn. During the warm months (September to April) Punta Tombo reserve is home to the world's
largest colony of Magellanic penguins. Spending much of their lives in the
water, these penguins return yearly to the Patagonian coast to court, breed,
and raise their young. Approximately half of the colony of penguins that nest
at Punta Tombo burrow underground. Males arrive prior to the females,
preparing and settling into their old nests. When the females arrive, they
search out their lifelong mate through a series of calls and a chorus of
answers. After an elaborate courtship, the female will lay one egg and both
male and female will share the two-month incubation. Once the baby penguin,
or chick, hatches, the parents will forage for food, feeding the chick by
regurgitation until it can fend for itself. After the chicks learn to swim,
the family will return to the ocean and migrate north to southern Brazil.
Some Magellanic penguins may migrate 3000 miles round-trip between Brazil and
Patagonia. When the immature penguins return to Punta Tombo the following
year, they will moult their feathers, and breeding will once again resume.
Besides penguins it is also possible to see many other kind of birds in the
area. During the return trip, the
tour stops at Gaiman, one of the oldest Welsh colonies in the area, where it
is possible to taste an excellent tea with home made cakes. Accommodation at the selected hotel for two nights with daily
breakfast. |
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DAY 02: |
PUERTO MADRYN Full day tour to
Península Valdes Early morning
departure to Isthmus Carlos Ameghino from where it is possible to see at the
same time Nuevo and San Jose Gulfs, visit the Interpretation Centre and see
the Birds’ Island. This is a small island connected to the continent during
low tides where visitors are not allowed. A wide variety of birds arrive
during their breeding season: seagulls, flamingos, herons, cormorants, ducks
and penguins among others. The tour continues to Caleta Valdes where there is
an important settlement of Southern Elephant seals and Punta Delgada. After
lunch, drive to Puerto Piramides, a nice beach surrounded by cliffs. Whale
watching tours by boat leave from this port. On the return to Puerto Madryn,
the tour passes by Salinas Grande and Chica, a natural depression 42 mts.
below sea level Optional Whale Watching (July to November): Boats with specialized guides
leave from Puerto Piramides to slowly get close to these enormous mammals
that have come to the area to breed. Sometimes propelled by their powerful
tails, the whales leap completely out of the water and crash back causing
enormous swirls of water. The average length and weight of the adult whale is
15 metres and 50 tons, with maximum length and weight of 18 metres and 90 tons.
Whales breed on average in 3-year cycles. Pregnancy lasts about eleven months
and the calf is suckled from a milk gland beneath the mother's body. The calf
is about 5 to 6 metres long at birth, but grows quickly and may double its
weight in the first week! The Southern Right Whale is a baleen whale, which
feeds on krill during its summer visit to the Antarctic. These mammals filter
the krill through plates of baleen hanging from the roof of their mouths. They have large white bumps called callosities on
their heads that are used by scientists to identify them as the shapes are
differ from one animal to another.
These whales travel from Northern Greenland to Nuevo and San Jose
Gulfs and arrive in July to stay until late November when they start their trip
back to the north. |
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DAY 03: |
PUERTO MADRYN
Transfer to Trelew Airport. |
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